HEC Supports Successful Newbuilding in China for State of Alaska: Ketchikan Dry Dock No. 2

Ketchikan Dry Dock No. 2 was built at the Penglai Bohai Shipyard, China. The dry dock particulars are:

• Length: 200 ft
• Width: 110 ft
• Depth to Wing Deck: 52 ft
• Depth to Pontoon Deck: 21 ft
• Lift Capability in Transfer Mode: 2,500 LT

The Owner is the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) and the acquisition of the dry dock is part of an expansion of the facilities at the Ketchikan Shipyard operated by Alaska Ship & Drydock, Inc. The Dry dock construction was completed in June 2007 and then towed to Ketchikan where it has been installed and become operational. Time for construction from contract to completion was less than one year. The dry dock was designed by Heger Drydock Co., Holliston, MA and the production design was prepared by CS Marine, Shanghai. An innovative feature of the dry dock is that it is designed for land level transfer. Using four winches with combined controls, the dry dock can be maneuvered over an underwater mounted grid structure and ballasted down onto the grid in order to carry out rail transfer of vessels to and from the shore. This gives the dock the capacity to launch and repair multiple boats and vessels.

Using the combined efforts of the Annapolis and Shanghai offices, HEC contributed to the successful acquisition and construction of the project in China. Prior to contract, HEC provided technical expertise for bidding the project overseas, negotiating with shipyards, shipyard selection and contract specification preparation. During the construction phase HEC acted as technical coordinators for plan approval, equipment selection and response to technical inquiries. HEC also provided staff for on site owners representation.

Management Change at Herbert Engineering Shanghai Co., Ltd.

Herbert Engineering Shanghai, Co. Ltd. has recently passed its 3rd year anniversary and is celebrating with continued growth and a very busy staff in the heart of one of the most dynamic shipbuilding regions in the world. HES has been able to provide international owners with local support for their new construction and conversion projects in China as well as support for HSSI's software production.

Recently, our very first employee, Mr. John Zhang, was promoted to General Manager after successful service as our Senior Engineer and Technical Manager. He will have more adminstrative duties now, but he will never be far from the engineering "action". Coming to HES with over 11 years of new vessel design and construction experience, he will surely be a very hands-on manager.

Spencer Schilling, President of HEC and former GM of HES, notes that John brings much more than technical capability to HES. Over 12 years ago he got to know our software agent in China, PacrimMartec, and through a continuous working relationship he also got to know HEC. "John has a fundamental understanding of the HEC core values and mission and we are extremely happy to have him representing these for us at HES".

For further information, or to inquire about job opportunities at HES, please contact John Zhang.

John Zhang
General Manager
Herbert Engineering Shanghai Co. Ltd.

Tel: +86 21 5836 9620
Fax: +86 21 5836 9542
E-mail: jzhang@shanghai.herbert.com

Herbert Engineering Corp. has Completed Management Transition

Alameda, CA Keith Michel, Chairman and CEO of the Herbert Group of Companies, announced that Spencer Schilling is now appointed and operating as President of Herbert Engineering Corp. (HEC). Mr. Michel explained, Spencer Schilling has contributed his ship design expertise, computer skills and strong organization and management capabilities to HEC since he joined Herbert Engineering in 1983. It is fitting and well deserved that he now assumes the role of President. I and all of Herbert's staff and directors are very pleased to have Spencer leading HECs design and engineering operation. As part of this timely internal management transition Mr. Michel noted he will focus his energies on the close coordination of the different companies within the Herbert Group and spend more time on his passion for ship design and industry activity.

Schilling has a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute and a Masters of Science degree from UC Berkeley. He has been a Program Manager and Corporate Director since 1987 and was made a Vice President in 1996. His work at HEC covers all areas of naval architecture with an emphasis on ship design and acquisition support, and structural analysis. In addition, he has used his programming skills to develop, deliver and maintain numerous software products and has managed HECs computer loading instrumentation and software business, now the HSSI subsidiary company. Spencer was instrumental in the strategic planning for, establishing and initially managing the Herbert Groups Shanghai, China office (HES) in 2004. He continues to be the treasurer for this dynamic operation in Asia, which was established to better serve our US clients in doing business in China and other Asian countries and to develop new HEC and HSSI markets in China.

Schilling is honored by the opportunity now before him saying Keith Michel has done an excellent job of building Herbert Engineering into a world class organization, true to the engineering philosophy set down by founder, Bob Herbert. I am looking forward to the challenge of continuing that work and grateful to the Board of Directors for having the confidence in me to do so.

In America, Schillings responsibilities include the management of the Alameda, CA and Annapolis, MD offices. The Annapolis office was established in 2001 to better serve HECs East and Gulf Coast clients. The Alameda and Annapolis offices operate as a single entity, with quality procedures and project management implemented on a company-wide basis. This enables HEC to leverage all its resources to best serve all its clients.

Herbert Engineering was established in 1963 by Robert Herbert in San Francisco, and has been providing the marine community with ship design and consulting services for over forty four years. As a small commercial ship design office, HEC pioneered the development of new and improved vessels such as open-hatch forest product carriers. The firms primary areas of expertise are new vessel design and acquisition support, and providing ship conversion engineering to ship owners and operating companies. This work includes concept design studies, contract design and specification development, shipyard negotiations, plan review, marine engineering support, damage stability and oil outflow analysis, structural analysis, ship motions, and hydrodynamics. HEC also has many related areas of skill and experience including marine transportation studies, salvage response support, regulatory assessment, risk analysis and marine engineering system design. HEC provides high level business consulting to maritime industry leaders.

An important part of the Herbert Groups business is the development of software products and related services for its clients. These products and services are provided by Herbert Software Solutions, Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Herbert Group. In addition to HEC offering custom software solutions for engineering, risk evaluation and simulation/virtual development studies, HSSI provides a comprehensive set of software for initial ship design and salvage engineering.

For further information, contact:

Keith Michel: kmichel@herbert.com
Spencer Schilling: sschilling@herbert.com
2417 Mariner Square Loop, Suite 125
Alameda, CA 94501
Telephone: 510 814 9700

Management Change at Herbert Engineering Shanghai Co., Ltd.

Herbert Engineering Shanghai, Co. Ltd. has recently passed its 6th month anniversary and is celebrating with continued growth. The new company was able to establish a firm foundation and steady work load in 2004. It is now in a good position to take on additional staff and pursue the next phase of its development.

To carry this work forward, Mr. Robert Tagg, a 30 year veteran of Herbert Engineering and current President of Herbert Software Solutions Inc. has assumed the General Manager duties from Spencer Schilling. Mr. Tagg will take up permanent residence in Shanghai and Mr. Schilling will return to manage the engineering design services of Herbert Engineering in the U.S. As former General Manager of the Shanghai company, Spencer will be especially able to further develop with Rob a very close working relationship between the Shanghai and San Francisco offices. This will create great synergies for both companies.

The next phase of business development for Herbert Engineering Shanghai is the hiring of additional engineering staff to assist with several significant conversion projects to be carried out in China. Current announcements are on the street for naval architects and ship design draftsman.

For further information or to inquire about job opportunities, please contact Robert Tagg:

Robert Tagg
General Manager
Herbert Engineering Shanghai Co. Ltd.

Tel: +86 21 5836 9620
Fax: +86 21 5836 9542
Email:rtagg@shanghai.herbert.com

HEC Establishes Shanghai Office

Herbert Engineering Corp. has opened a wholy owned subsidiary in Shanghai, China to better serve its existing clients, offer advanced analysis services to the Chinese Shipbuilding Industry, and provide full service and sales support for Herbert Software Solutions, Inc. The new company, Herbert Engineering Shanghai Co., Ltd. opened its doors on July 1, 2004 in the Pudong area of Shanghai. Spencer Schilling, a current Vice President of Herbert Engineering and Manager of the Design Department, has been appointed as the General Manager of the new venture. Spencer has been with HEC for 21 years and will provide business and engineering leadership in a manner consistent with HEC's long established practices. This will provide a very close working relationship between HEC in the U.S. and Herbert Engineering Shanghai.

The staff in Shanghai will support both engineering and software development efforts. The engineering staff will be focused on support HEC design services, especially those with construction opportunities in China. They will also provide local liaison to the shipyards and design firms interested in engaging the advanced analysis capabilities of HEC. For HEC's international owner/operator clients, HEC Engineering Shanghai will provide in-country engineering support, and shipyard liaison services.

Software production and development will be a key business area for the new venture. Herbert Software Solutions, Inc. and its long time agent in China, Pacrim Martec Company, will use the new office in Shanghai as a base of operations. Over the past 10 years, Pacrim has garnered a good portion of the market for HSSI's CargoMax Loading program software. These efforts will continue in earnest with local support, production, and installation capabilities. HSSI will also grow a small staff of software development professionals to assist with program enhancement and new product development.

HEC is very excited about the opportunities to participate in China's rapidly expanding shipbuilding industry and provide a bridge to that market for out international clientele.

For further information, please contact Spencer Schilling at sschilling@herbert.com

Annapolis Office Thrives in its Second Year

The Herbert Engineering Corp. East Coast office started operating in October, 2001 at 927 West Street in Annapolis, MD. The office was established with three experienced ship engineering consulting professionals led by Rick Thorpe.  Karl Briers is the senior marine engineer and Bob vom Saal is the senior naval architect in the office. In May of 2002, Dave Thorne joined the operation as the senior designer.  In August, additional office space was rented to better respond to the needs of Herbert Engineering Corp's. clients.

The HEC Annapolis design staff works as one with the HEC Alameda staff.  Some engineering jobs are shared between Annapolis and Alameda and some are done completely in Annapolis as best meets the needs of our clients.  In addition to ship design and engineering projects, the Annapolis office does market research analysis consulting and shipyard evaluation studies.  Quality Assurance is maintained by independent review and evaluation, along with careful overall peer review by one or both offices.

All members of the Annapolis office have over 30 years of marine industry experience, mostly in shipyard design offices, with the remaining time spent in naval architecture firms and shipyard management positions.  This complements the Alameda staff's extensive experience working for shipowners as clients and on their technical staff.

In summary, the Annapolis office was established to better serve our clients east of the Mississippi, and to provide additional support to HEC's nationwide and international clients. The Alameda and Annapolis offices operate as a single technical entity with quality procedures and project management implemented on a company-wide basis.

Herbert Engineering Corp. has acquired full ownership of Loadmaster International, Inc. after its Swedish based subsidiary Loadmaster AB was sold to Kockum Sonics. The company, which will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Herbert Engineering, has been renamed Herbert Software Solutions, Inc.